A Competency Framework to Assess and Activate Education

A Competency Framework to Assess and Activate Education for Sustainable Development: Addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals 4. 7 Challenge Rehema White University of St Andrews

contents • Why do we have learning for sustainability? • Competency frameworks • Our competency framework (Giangrande et al 2019) https: //www. competencyworks. org/case-study/highlighting-deeper-learning-competencies-in-new-hampshire/

Learning for sustainability • Sustainable development is a process, and needs adaptive support • Education (specific skills, knowledge and capacities) is required to enable SD • The UN SDGs offer aspirations and targets up to 2030 • SDG 4. 7. 1 indicator “extent to which i) global citizenship education and ii) education for sustainable development, including gender equality and human rights, are mainstreamed at all levels in: a) national education policies, b) curricula, c) teacher education and d) student assessment”

Assessing learning for sustainability Lf. S includes: ØSocialization Øpromotion of citizenship Øvocational preparation Øallowing learners to achieve full potential Øtransformative possibilities (Sterling 2008) How to assess this? Beyond ‘participation numbers’ to ‘abilities’ (and impact? ) https: //www. slideshare. net/kristeljoyjadormio 9/transformative-education-53138050

Competencies • A competence is “a functionally linked behaviour skills complex of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable successful task performance and competence problem solving” (Wiek et al 2011) knowledge • “A competence is defined as the ability to ability successfully meet complex demands in a experience particular context through the mobilization of psychosocial prerequisites (including cognitive and noncognitive aspects)” Rychen and Salganik 2003

• Rather than focusing on acquisition of facts and specific skills, competences emphasise us nurturing ‘change agents’, ‘problem solvers’ and ‘transition managers’ (Wiek et al 2011) • Various competence frameworks have been suggested Forbes. com

Example competence areas for ESD Anticipatory Futures Risk Uncertainty Backcasting Scenarios Complexity https: //www. visioncritical. com/blog/future-design-thinking-3 -c-s-success

Some of the suites of key competencies or outcomes that have previously been developed to assess ESD Barth et al. 2007 Weik et al. 2011 Key competencies in: Foresighted thinking Interdisciplinary work Cosmopolitan perception Transcultural understanding and cooperation Participatory skills Planning and implementation Capacity for empathy, compassion and solidarity Self-motivation and in motivating others Distanced reflection on individual and cultural models Anticipatory Developing narratives of the future Backcasting and forecasting skills Working with scenarios, risks, intergenerational equity, and unintended consequences Systemic working Ability to work with key aspects of systems theory; tipping points, nested hierarchies and slow and fast variables and resilience Interpersonal Including skills around mediation and conflict resolution Leadership and team building Communication skills, including empathy and empathic responses Transcultural thinking and deliberation and negotiation Normative The development of worldviews and perspectives Ability to assess the stability of current or future states Ethical questions, including risks and tradeoffs Ability to assess well being Strategic Planning, decision making, assessment of obstacles, identification of success factors Knowledge of behavioural change Organisational development Use of Kolb’s action reflection cycle.

Transition network Intra-personal competences

Proposed Competency Framework Key Competency Area Example of Competencies Intrapersonal Presencing, self awareness, stress management, meaning making, connection with self, capacity for inner peace, mental wellbeing, self-reflection Interpersonal Communication skills, empathy, compassion, leadership, teamwork, mediation, cooperation, collaboration, participation Future thinking Visioning, developing scenarios, backcasting, recognising heritage, intergenerational equity Systems thinking, working with complex problems, promoting resilience, understanding tipping points and feedback loops Disciplinary and interdisciplinary Understand the links between knowledge and experience, critical thinking, discipline specific framing, interdisciplinarity, expressing multiple ways of knowing Normative and cultural Ethical responsibility, development of world views and perspectives, awareness of values, understanding of justice, cosmopolitan perception, transcultural understanding, awareness of local context and global trends Strategic Planning, decision making, implementing, addressing challenges, organisational development, use of Kolb’s action reflection cycle.

Figure 1. The multiple intelligence model developed by Gardner [16]—image http: //thedailynewnation. c

Examples uses Key Competencies Interpersonal. Collaborative skills, mediation, leadership, cooperation, empathy, teamwork Human rights Are learners given the opportunity to develop empathy? What is leadership in promotion of human rights? What role does cooperation play in human rights? Gender equality Do learners have the possibility of experiencing their world from the viewpoint of the opposite sex? Do opposite sexes have opportunities to collaborate together on shared goals? Do both sexes look together at issues of gender equality in a spirit of enquiry? Are different forms of gender included and enabled?

• Proposed framework combines general areas of competence with specific areas • Questions can be asked by student or teacher and encourage reflection and self assessment on learning and reflection on content • Can add more technical and specific questions Learn. solent. ac. uk

Conclusions • Competencies offer a meaningful way to assess ESD and Lf. S • Can we combine with audit participation numbers eg number of programmes, number of students? • Is this framework useful for FHE? • How can we implement it? • How can we add it to specific skills and make it work across different programmes?